An information center may refer to an information source, such as a website, that may be used for training users in applications and solving related personal computer problems. An information center may contain a listing of thousands of individual topics as well as thousands of electronic documents that are readily available to the user, such as in a PDF format. These electronic documents may be available to the user by the user selecting the appropriate link, displayed on the user's interface, to that document. An example of such an information center is illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a screen shot of an information center 100. Information center 100 may include two separate panes 101, 102. Pane 101 may be referred to as the “topic pane” where the topic pane includes a list of topics, e.g., “information roadmaps”, for the user to select. Upon selecting one of these topics, pane 102 may appear that includes a list of articles that relate to the selected topic.
From the standpoint of the user, information centers may seem overwhelming due to the large number of topics and documents available to the user. Since there is so much information readily available to the user, it may be time consuming and cumbersome for the user to find the information desired.
For example, suppose the user is having difficulty installing an application server (application server may refer to software to facilitate the serving or running of other applications) on the user's computer. The user may access the information center, such as a website, to obtain online information to assist the user in installing the application server. However, the user is having difficulty finding the information the user needs to install the application server because there is an overwhelming number of topics and documents displayed in the information center. Hence, the information center, as currently structured, is not easy for the user to find the information they desire. That is, searching through an information center, as currently structured, is not robust and presents a laborious task for the user to find the information desired.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for the user to be able to access the desired information in an information center using less time.